Saturday, November 28, 2009

Hamas source: Much work remains on Shalit deal

Much work remains before a swap deal for the release of captive IDF soldier Gilad Shalit's can be completed, a Hamas source said Saturday evening.

Negotiation teams on both sides as well as the German mediator still have plenty of work left ahead of them before finalizing the deal, he said.

The source estimated that no breakthrough in the Shalit affair can be expected before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming trip to Germany.

Egyptian and Palestinians sources estimated that the contacts will be accelerated at the end of the Muslim Feast of Sacrifice Monday.

"Conditions are not yet right for a deal or even for a breakthrough," the Hamas source said. He added that the movement is still waiting for answers from Israel to be relayed by the German mediator.

The source noted that some disagreements still persist, but refused to provide details regarding the names of Hamas prisoners still under debate.

Over the weekend, Arab media outlets presented various reports in respect to the Shalit swap. According to some reports, Egyptian officials will be entering the Gaza Strip and transferring Shalit into Egypt as part of the agreement, before handing him over to Israel.

Meanwhile, Fox News reported that the main disagreement still hindering a deal was the question of where to banish Palestinian prisoners from east Jerusalem.